Prep football: Boylan’s Zack Mathews a two-way ‘sledgehammer’

ROCKFORD — Zack Mathews’ favorite moments on a football field are when opposing running backs can’t turn the corner.

“I like it when they are trying to go outside and they don’t see me coming from the inside,” Boylan’s senior middle linebacker said. “They turn it up and I’m right there.”

What happens then?

“They don’t go anywhere.”

They might not even make it back to the huddle.

“Zack has some very big hits,” junior defensive end Dushawn Sullivan said. “I’m just looking like, ‘Yeah, that guy is done.’

“Zack saves so many of us on defense. You mess up, you look back and you know Zack’s got your back. He’s our key. Every defense wants to have one; he’s that guy.”

Boylan (12-0) is back in Saturday’s Class 6A state semifinals against Batavia (11-1) because Demry Croft is having one of the greatest passing seasons in school history, but also because a defense that gave up 34 points to Hononegah and Belvidere North has found traction in the playoffs.

“We’ve finally clicked and got in a good rhythm,” Mathews said. “We’ve found our niche and are just trying to be stingy.”

Boylan has a host of defensive stars, including defensive end Ian Riggs and defensive backs Matt Sciame, Nico Flores and the Smolinski twins, Graham and Quinn.

But it all starts with Mathews, Boylan’s most physical player.

On both sides of the ball.

When Boylan needs to gain its toughest yards, the 6-foot-1, 230-pound Mathews moonlights as a running back. After Boylan scored on a 90-yard punt return on the last play of the game to pull within a point in the second round of the playoffs last year, Mathews got his only carry of the game on a two-point conversion. He was swallowed up at the 2-yard line, but dragged seven or eight Oak Park Fenwick defenders into the end zone for the 22-21 victory.

“You want to get the heck out of his way, whether he’s running with the ball or tackling,” Boylan coach John Cacciatore said. “When he runs, the pile continues to move.”

“He’s a beast,” Sullivan said. “In practice, I don’t want to go up against him. He’s that big and that strong.”

As a runner, Cacciatore compares Mathews to one of the most physical runners in NFL history: Kansas City’s Christian “The Nigerian Nightmare” Okoye, who led the NFL in rushing in 1989. But he also compared him to another runner known for his size but who starred by being surprisingly nimble.

“When he comes at you, he’s a sledgehammer. He’s a downhill runner like Christian Okoye, but I also compare him to Jerome Bettis, big, but with incredibly nifty feet,” Cacciatore said. “His feet are absolutely incredible for a kid that size.”

Those feet and great fundamentals with his hips also make him a fearsome tackler.

“You can’t get to him. You can hit him, but he’s got great instincts on not being blockable,” Cacciatore said. “He uses some of the same qualities that help him as a running back. His shoulders are down and he avoids contact as well as anyone and finds the football.”

Mathews enjoys the contact of being a short-yardage rusher.

“I know I’m always in position to get hit or hit somebody,” he said.

He’s also always in position on defense. At least almost always.

“He’s the pillar over there,” Cacciatore said. “He’s been the bedrock of what we’ve done the last few weeks. He is where we want the ball to go.”

He’s tough to avoid.

“I’m in the middle,” Mathews said, “so it’s hard when someone’s in the middle.

“I’m just trying to be all over the field, anywhere I can be, helping against the run, helping against the pass, just being that overall guy. I just like tackling.”